The present invention comprises a new Poinsettia, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima and hereinafter referred to by the variety name ‘Ruby Frost.’
‘Ruby Frost’ is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar ‘Ruby Frost’ has variegated red and white bract color, medium sized inflorescences held well above the foliage canopy, medium to deep green foliage that are ovate to oak-shaped bracts and leaves with pointed lobes, medium sized, well-branched and mounding plant habit, mid-season flowering response, and good keeping quality of foliage and bracts.
‘Ruby Frost’ originates from a hybridization made in March 2006 in a controlled breeding program in Toenisvorst, Germany. ‘Ice Punch’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,504, is a parent to ‘Ruby Frost’. The other parent is unknown.
The resulting seeds were sown in the summer of 2006 and ‘Ruby Frost’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in December 2006 in a greenhouse in Toenisvorst, Germany.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Ruby Frost’ was accomplished when propagation was made by propagating shoot tips from the initial selection in the early spring of 2007. These shoot tips were rooted and grown out.
Shoot tips from the original clone were grafted in June 2007 in order to improve the branching ability. Cuttings from the successfully grafted stems were rooted during summer 2007, and were cultivated for the first time, through small trial during the fall and winter of 2007.
Horticultural examination of this variety continued through the fall of 2008, with cuttings of the grafted plants initiated in the summer/fall of 2008 in Toenisvorst, Germany, and continuing thereafter on a larger scale, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for ‘Ruby Frost’ are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
A Plant Breeder's Right for this cultivar was applied for in the European Union on Sep. 12, 2008. ‘Ruby Frost’ has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing of this application.
‘Ruby Frost’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length.